100% Chinese music, with one imposter.

0. Organ music filler, in case previous show runs short

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Vespers at the Temple of Quanzhou (rec. Kaiyuan Temple, Quanzhou, China 29 Jan. 1987)
Chine: Fanbai: Chant liturgique bouddhique
Ocora, C 559 080
66'

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

2. Aaron Avshalomov: Peking Hutungs: Symphonic Poem on Chinese Street Sounds & Cries (1931)
Jacob Avshalomov - conductor, Portland Youth Philharmonic
Composers Recordings, CD 667
9:44

3. Leigh Harline: 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
Leigh Harline - conductor
7 Faces of Dr. Lao Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film Score Monthly, Vol.9 No.11
49:47
(Motion picture directed by George Pal, starring Tony Randall in seven roles. Mysterious Chinaman brings circus to frontier town. Beyond 1960s ethnic stereotypes, a story about transformation, which is operative in Leigh Harline's catchy musical score. Some find the movie a little cringy, but since when is transformation easy?)

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

4. Zhao Jiping: Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Hu Bing Xu - conductor, China Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Percussion instruments of the Beijing opera: Huang Shuangkai - banhu [fiddle], Ren Hong - xiaoluo [small gong], Luo Wanyin - daluo [large gong], Sun Guisheng - chiba [wooden clapper]
Electric Shadows: Film Music by Zhao Jiping
Teldec, 0630-17114-2
19'
(Banned in Beijing! Zhang Yimou's film about conflict among wives in a feudal household.)

5. Leung Wu Ti Hay Hoo Chiu One Key [Empress Hei of the Leung Dynasty: Flag of Spirits] (rec. NYC 15 Oct. 1929)
Lee Fee Fung - voice
Rain Dropping on the Banana Tree: An Anthology of Chinese Classical Music
Rounder, CD 1125
20'
(Cantonese opera. Female vocal with two erhus, violin, qinqin [lute] and woodblocks.)

6. Ji Rong Huang: Rebirth of the Lovers
13:51
(Did you catch the reference to O Canada?)

7. Rui Shi Zhuo: Dream of Yesterday
2:20

8. Tea Harvest Dance
Arranged by Yong Sun
3:25

Tracks 6-8 (rec. Nov.-Dec. 1999)
Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble: Ji Rong Huang - erhu [Chinese violin], Yong Sun - dizi [flute], Vivian Xia - yangqin [hammered dulcimer], Zhi Min Yu - ruan [guitar], Ling Yang - pipa [lute], Mei Han - zheng [zither]
Transplanted Purple Bamboo
Vancouver Chinese Instrumental Music Society, PB 001

I've said it before: composers are, by definition, do-it-yourselfers, but some are do-it-yourselfer-er than others. Let us, for the sake of argument, imagine them to be long-lost kin. Dear Abby coined the term "strange uncle".

Messiaen is the one with odd religious views who never hesitates to proselytize at funerals, weddings, etc.

Bruckner, the country bumpkin who just can't leave well enough alone.

And Partch, the eccentric who spends inordinate time in the inventin' laboratory out back, hammering.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 10:00am

1. Olivier Messiaen: Chants de terre & de ciel (1937-38)
Text by Olivier Messiaen
Suzie Leblanc - soprano, Robert Kortgaard - piano
ATMA, ACD2 2564
26:38

2. Anton Bruckner: Symphony No.8 in C minor (Original Version) (1887)
Günter Wand - conductor, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
RCA, 74321 82866 2
87'

Set #2 - 10:00am - 11:00am

3. Harry Partch: And on the 7th Day Petals Fell in Petaluma (1963-64, rev. 1966)
Harry Partch - director, Gate 5 Ensemble of Sausalito
The Music of Harry Partch
Composers Recordings Inc., CD 7000
35:56

Songs from Nunavut, Finland, and Mongolia, along with classical works inspired by indigenous literature.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 10:00am

1. Checking Out the Weather
1:48

2. Over There
2:21

3. Can Not Provide
2:06

4. He Cannot Walk
3:02

5. What Is It?
2:37

6. I Am Shy
3:00

7. No Mitts
1:16

Tracks 1-7 (rec. Baker Lake, Nunavut)
Martha Talerook, Winnie Owingayak & Jean Simailak - voice
Tuhaalruuqtut Vol.1
Spiritwalker, SW 298

8. Lemminkäinen (rec. 1905)
Iivana Härkönen - voice
2:26

9. The Birth of the World (rec. 1905)
Iivana Onoila - voice
2:27

10. The Birth of Fire (rec. 1905)
Petri Shemeikka - voice
1:28

11. Weaving Song & Lullaby (rec. 1936)
Oksenja Mäkiselkä - voice
1:05

Tracks 8-11
The Kalevala Heritage: Archive Recordings of Ancient Finnish Songs
Ondine, ODE 849-2

12. Jean Sibelius: Kullervo Symphony (1892)
Paavo Berglund - conductor, Eeva-Lilsa Saarinen - mezzo soprano, Jorma Hynninen - baritone, State Academic Choir of the Estonian S.S.R., Helsinki University Male Choir, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
EMI, CDM5 65080-2
71:46

Set #2 - 10:00am - 11:00am

13. The Varicoloured Mountain
2:31

14. Dance
1:17

15. My Truth
3:00

16. My Little Darling
1:57

17. Grain of Wheat
2:46

Tracks 13-17 (rec. Mongolia Oct. 1984)
Aqman - voice & dombra
Mongolie: Chants kazakh et tradition épique de l'Ouest
Ocora, C 580051
(Dombra is a long-necked two-string lute.)

18. Aires Fandango (rec. Quintana Roo, Mexico 1993)
Marcelino Poot Ek - violin, Pedro Ek Cituk - snare drum, Estaban Caamal Dzul - bass drum
Wood That Sings: Indian Fiddle Music of the Americas
Smithsonian Folkways, SF 40472
4:36

19. Michael Matthews: Out of the Earth (1993)
Virko Baley - conductor, Therese Costes - soprano, Kiev Camerata
Out of the Earth: Music of Michael Matthews
Troppe Note/Cambria Recordings, CD-1415
22'

Whenever I go on vacation, I pack The Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca. They have a concentrated intensity that's well-suited to passing time on trains, in waiting halls and in custody. Lorca's lament for the bullfighter Ignacio Sánchez Mejías contains a line that stays in my memory: "Huesos y flautas suenan en su oído [Bones and flutes resound in his ears]."

It's plausible that bones, minus the marrow, in ancient times, were fashioned into wind instruments. And then again, I think of xylophones and other mallet instruments, courtesy of the fossils in Carnival of the Animals.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. J. S. Bach: Sonata in B minor BWV 1030 (1717)
17:14

2. J. S. Bach: Sonata in E-flat major (transp. to G major) BWV 1031 (1730)
9:08
(Last movement Allegro may be recognized by Canadian listeners as the As It Happens theme.)

3. J. S. Bach: Sonata in A major (transp. to G major) BWV 1032 (1717)
11:23

4. J. S. Bach: Sonata in C major BWV 1033 (1718)
8:05

5. J. S. Bach: Sonata in E minor (transp. to G minor) BWV 1034 (1717)
12:43

6. J. S. Bach: Sonata in E major (transp. to F major) BWV 1035 (1741)
11:39

Tracks 1-6
Michala Petri - recorder, Keith Jarrett - harpsichord
RCA, 60441-2-RC
(Musicological scuttlebutt has it that some of these sonatas were composed by Son of Bach C. P. E.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

7. Beth Anderson: New Mexico Swale (1995)
Andrew Bolotowsky - flute & piccolo, Dirk Van den Hauwe - violin, Marc Sonnaert - viola, Ilia Laporev - cello, David Rozenblatt - percussion, Gary M. Schneider - conductor
Beth Anderson: Swales & Angels
New World Records, 80610-2
10:23

8. Ruth Lomon: Sweet Sixteen (2003)
Nina Assimakopoulos - flute
4'

9. Vera Weislitzova: Sweet Sixteen
Nina Assimakopoulos - narrator
2:39

Tracks 8-9
Nina Assimakopoulos: Points of Entry: Contemporary Works for Solo Flute by American Women Composers Vol.1
Capstone Records, CPS-8759

10. Somei Satoh: Kougetsu (Moon) (1990)
Somei Satoh: Sun Moon
Akikazu Nakamura - shakuhachi, Shin Miyashita - koto
New Albion Records, NA069CD
14:27

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

11. Olga Harris: Sonata for Clarinet & Piano
Sergui Gontcharov - clarinet, Irina Krivtchenko - piano
Olga Harris: Music for Clarinet & Piano
Olga Harris, OH0100
25'

12. Ney Rosauro: Concerto for Marimba (1986)
Glenn D. Price - conductor, Rod Thomas Squance - marimba, University of Calgary Wind Ensemble
Ney Rosauro: Concertos for Solo Percussion & Wind Ensemble
Pró Percussão, CD 05
19'

13. Coralia López & Israel López "Cachao": Isora Club (danzón) (rec. Los Angeles Oct. 1993)
Cachao & Orchestra
Cachao: Master Sessions Vol.1
Crescent Moon/Epic, CK 64320
6:38